Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a large group of mostly Central American migrants marching through a ranch located about 60 miles north of the Texas-Mexico border. The group included an unaccompanied minor.
Agents assigned to the Hebbronville Border Patrol Station came upon a suspicious vehicle in an area known for human smuggling. As the agents approached the vehicle, the driver jumped out and fled into the brush. Agents said that no one else was inside the vehicle, according to Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.
Agents could not locate the driver but managed to find a presumed drop-off location for what appeared to be a group of migrants attempting to circumvent the immigration checkpoint by walking through a ranch. After picking up the trail, the agents tracked the group until they eventually caught up with them.
The agents apprehended 17 people they determined to be illegally present in the U.S., officials said. The migrants came to the U.S. from El Salvador (2), Guatemala (13), and Mexico (2). The group reportedly included one unaccompanied minor.
The agents arrested the group of migrants and transported them to the station for processing. Officials seized the abandoned vehicle.
Human smugglers frequently abandon migrants in the brush under circumstances that often lead to injury or death. In July, Border Patrol agents rescued a woman who had been left to die. Hebbronville Station agents received a call that a woman had become lost on a ranch, Breitbart News reported. Quickly responding, the agents managed to find the woman and provide her with medical assistance.
A few days earlier, Hebbronville agents received another call from a woman who said she and her male companion were lost and the man desperately needed medical attention. The agents responded with the assistance of a National Guard helicopter aircrew and quickly located the couple. Unfortunately, the man had become unresponsive and eventually died from symptoms of heat and dehydration.
So far this year, 344 migrants died during or shortly after illegal border crossings. Of those, 207 died in Texas alone.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Border/Cartel Chronicles. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.